Oral Communication

Oral communication is an essential aspect of literacy, as it allows students to express their thoughts and ideas with others. Providing students with opportunities to explain what they know to their peers, teachers and parents.

Stage Fright? Fear Not.

From personal experience during my own education, as well as during my placement opportunities, oral communication can be a problematic strand of literacy for students to excel in the classroom. Fear can be associated with underachievement in these areas, as some students' "stage fright" can consume their thoughts and voice during presentations, class discussions and other forms of oral communication. Joe Kowan tells his story about his overcoming of stage fright during a TedTalk presentation. He explains the fear he felt when presenting for others, but also his strategy for conquering this fear.

Joe explains how admitting you are scared can help you overcome the fears you have when public speaking. Through a song and performance, Joe surpasses his nervous emotions and can present in front of a variety of audiences. Using this video as a guide and other similar TedTalks, teachers need to provide students with the opportunity to have fun, express themselves and overcome this rationally irrational fear.

Incorporating oral communication into the classroom through artistic forms, such as Dramatic Arts or Music, can provide students an opportunity to express their thoughts, emotions and experiences in an open and exhilarating way. When teachers put less emphasis on public speaking and more emphasis on expression, students will have more fun with the use of oral communication in the classroom curriculum. In addition to self-confidence, The Novak Djokovic Foundation highlights how the use of drama in the classroom can promote student literacy and achievement. Involving students in dramatic arts can have positive and lasting impacts on student literacy achievement, academic success and social interactions.

Student Should Take the Lead

Oral communication is about voicing personal thoughts, beliefs and experiences, however, students should have an output for these elements. Allowing students to guide and take responsibility for their learning, engages and promote literacy in their education. Sharon Cromwell highlights her beliefs about Student-Led Conferences through her article, explaining the importance of using these conferences to instill responsibility in students and develop oral communication skills. Student-Led Conferences invite students to guide the discussions they would like to have during conferences with both their teachers and parents. These conferences can be done in replacement of or in addition to Parent-Teacher conferences.

To have Student-Led conferences in the classroom, teachers must provide students with the criteria that need to be discussed throughout a conference. Through the use of conference assessment tools and resources, students can develop their ideas and voice them through an engaging and interactive method. In connection with the curriculum, students will meet expectations involving the use of speaking skills and strategies.

Let's Talk

An amazing activity that should be incorporated into every classroom is Table Topics, which are different prompts that ask students to think on the spot and have discussions. There are a variety of ways Table Topics can be incorporated into the classroom, inviting students to speak individually about a topic or asking students to have a group discussion about a topic. Through the use of these topics, students can evaluate their oral communicate, in addition to the oral communication of others.

Writing

Let's Find Meaning

As students learn and develop their writing skills, it is clear that the idea of "good writing" can be a daunting task. Students are often unable to connect to their writing, leading to disengagement and unimaginative writing products. Through the use of the following resources, I hope to bring positive energy into classroom writing activities.

Digital Writing

Students can have a difficult time writing fluent sentences as they see writing as a task, more than a meaningful activity. For students to find meaning in their writing, they need to connect to their own lives and experiences. Due to the fact that we live in a technologically advanced society, using applications, websites and online resources, can assist students in making connections. 

Digital writing can also be beneficial for students with exceptionalities, such as physical disabilities, dyslexia, or visual impairments. Applications and resources that allow students to use a keyboard or dictation tools can ensure students' ideas are making their way onto the paper.

Sentence Builder is an amazing application that students can use when learning how to write. The purpose of the application is to teach students how to effectively communicate their thoughts through well-build and comprehensive sentences. Sentence Builder ensures students are learning through a series of levels and a variety of information.

Introducing an application such as Sentence Builder into the classroom will allow students to independently learn about sentence building, fluency and word choice. The incorporation of this game into the classroom will engage and interest the students. It can be easily incorporated into a language lesson, by giving students IPads and asking them to reach the highest level they can in the game.

Inspire Writing Through Reading Analysis

This short article, Learning to Write by Reading, discusses how learning how to write can be influenced by reading. Through the analyzation of writing techniques, tone, voice and more through other writers' work can be beneficial and influential to students writing abilities.

For example, using a picture book like The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, will allow students to analyze voice and point of view. After reading through the text as a class, students can pair up with a peer and take on the analysis of one character in the book. The Day the Crayons Quit features letters speaking from the points of view of Duncan's "resigning" crayons. Each letter can be analyzed by the students to understand how point of view can be depicted through writing. By using the picture book as an exemplar, students can make their own letter to Duncan as one of the unspoken colours, explaining why they have decided to quit today.

Incorporating reading into our writing activity allows students to see final products of comprehensive writing; inspiring them to write on their own and connecting their beliefs about writing to texts they enjoy.

Make It "Short & Sweet"

Concise writing is not an easy concept to grasp for students. Writing should not always be about meeting word counts or page requirements, the content being explained should be easy to comprehend and follow. By incorporating activities such as six-word stories into the classroom, students can understand the power even just a couple of words can have on our minds.

Six-word stories are short stories made up of six-words that invite readers to connect and imagine where these words would lead them. This activity can be brought into a writing lesson to focus on elements of writing such as vocabulary, voice and intended audiences. By using prompts to inspire students six-word stories, the classroom will be amazed by the directions and connections students can make will just six-words.